Monday, May 23, 2011

Unfolding the standards of the dreams


Michael Strunge
1958 - 1986
"Now I can fly"

Those are the alleged last words of danish poet Michael Strunge. 
I pass that little sign every day. 
I don't read his poems any more, but he used to mean a lot to me. I would sit in my teen bedroom, listening to troubled music, reading troubled writings by troubled heroes and expose my troubled young heart in poor, but troubled, poetry in my treasured little black china-book. I'd have candlelights. I'd smoke out of the window. Sometimes I'd sneek into the kitchen when everybody else had gone to bed and pour myself some red wine. I'd ache. 

I miss those private, secret hours, looking out into the black forestnight. But I don't miss the chaos inside of me. 

I've made a meek translation of one of his poems:

Armed with these
the words of the wings
I stand
ready to float.

I dive out
from the crystaltower
and I stretch myself out
over the horizon
with the brain in the heart of the world.

Through darkness, through light
Through glowing cities at night.
Through dreams, through emotions
Through sensing scenery in now - 
through the day and night my flight goes on
through the clock, through the sight. 


(To read it in danish, click here.) 

He was such a handsome man. He was only - the infamous - 27 years old when he jumped out of the window of the building, that I pass every day on my bike...

Love,
Ida

P.s. The post-title is one of Michaels titles. 

2 comments:

  1. Jeg elsker ham! Forleden rendte min søster og jeg rundt på Assistenskirkegården for at finde hans grav, som jeg har set 100 gange før, men den var blevet væk for mig. haha. Nogle gange kan man godt savne ens teen-tider, men så alligevel... nej tak.

    Ditte

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  2. Nå ja, det er rigtigt, at han ligger på Assistensen... jeg har også fået lyst til at læse hans digte, men kan pludselig ikke finde min samlede Strunge. Men så kan jeg nok låne den af en ven, jeg tror ikke, jeg har en veninde, som ikke har den stående, haha.
    Og ja, det er nok meget godt, at man kun er teenager een gang i livet.

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